02 Dec The Myth of Agile
It is a myth that Agile does not require documentation. Whether SCRUM, EP, ASD, Pair Programming, or something yet to be invented Agile methodology does require necessary documentation that is developed at the needed level of detail. An agile project likely will have a (1)product backlog, (2) release plan, (3) sprint plan, (4) task board, (5) sprint review deck, (6) sprint retrospective backlog, (7) team working norms and (8) definition of done. These are in addition to requirements, user scenarios, a software architecture description and test scripts.
We consider these Agile documents to be similiar to or the same as documents used in the non-Agile community. For example:
(1) Product Backlog (hierarchy of desired features): often shown as requirements in the System Requirements Document.
(2) Release Plan (features to be included in the release): often shown as requirements in the Iterative Requirements Document.
(3) Sprint Plan (list of items to be worked on within each sprint): akin to the Statement of Work for the iteration or from the Project Schedule.
(4) Task Board (what is started and what is yet to be done in this sprint): derived from the Statement of Work for the iteration or from the Project Schedule.
(5) Sprint Review Deck (presentation to stakeholders listing what has been completed in this sprint and what is expected for the next sprint): akin to the baseline or readiness review
(6) Sprint Retrospective BackLog (list of improvements to be added): akin to a listing of Change Requests for new or modified functions or requirements.
(7) Team Working Norms (working agreements): no equivalent document.
(8) Definition of Done (requirements that must be satisfied and functions that must be present): typically defined by the System Test Report or the Release Plan.
Whether your organization uses some or all of these documents independent verification and validation (IV&V) will assess those documents, especially requirements, user scenarios, software architecture description and test scripts against such criteria as completeness, consistency, testability, readability and ambiguity. If you select The IV&V Group to perform IV&V you can be assured that documents will be assessed using our standards-based methodology and will support best practices, CMMI and PMI structure and guidelines.
